USA > Pennsylvania > Cambria County > History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Volume III > Part 16
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In 1862, because of a scarcity of work in Johnstown on account of the war, Mr. Harris went to the Potomae mines on George ereek, at a town called Barton, on the border line between Maryland and Virginia. There he worked during several months under a contractor of strong secession principles, although he was operating under a Federal contract. In 1863 further work in that locality was stopped by the Confederate troops, who burned the bridges and left no means of shipping coal to market. He then came back to Johnstown.
In 1868 Mr. Harris was appointed to a position on the Johnstown borough police force, first under Squire Rutledge, and then under Burgess W. Horace Rose, and at the end of one year was made chief of police. This office he held and filled with entire satisfaction until the 10th of May, 1890, when he was elected alderman of the First ward of Johnstown for a term of five years. In 1895 he was commissioned
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county detective and served in that capacity during two terms of three years each. In 1897 he went to California, partly on business but chiefly for recreation and travel, and then visited at various points of interest throughout the west. He happened to be in San Francisco when Berry and his wife came down from Alaska with their thousands of dollars worth of gold dust and nuggets, which event created wild ex- citement throughout the country on account of the new discovery. A few years later (1900) he again visited San Francisco, but then on a different errand, for he was in quest of the noted criminal, Hannan, whom he made prisoner and brought back to Greensburg, Pennsylvania, for trial.
In the summer of 1900 Mr. Harris made his second visit to Wales. His purpose in going abroad was to see Paris and the Exposition, but he stopped over in London, visited the Exposition then in progress there, and then went over into Wales. He returned to Johnstown in November of the same year. In 1902 he was again appointed chief of police of Johnstown, under the term of John Pendry as mayor. His own term of office expired in April, 1905. He then made an ex- tended pleasure trip through the east and west, and during the same year again went to England and Wales, making a journey through North Wales. After his return, on the 19th of December, 1905, he was appointed by the court as private detective, with jurisdiction ex- tending over the state. This is his present position, although he is ex- tensively interested in real estate and does a large collection business.
In this connection it is interesting to mention that in 1863 John T. Harris sent for his father and mother and brothers and sisters, sixteen persons in all, and brought them from Wales to America. Since his own coming he had saved his earnings for that very purpose; and it was a most generous action and reflected the man and the goodness of his heart. His subsequent efforts in business life have been rewarded with deserved success, although accident and misfortune have hefallen him in other directions. During the Johnstown flood in May, 1889, his faithful wife and five of their children were lost; and this was his most serious loss in that great disaster, although the value of his property swept away amounted to more than twenty thousand dollars, besides papers and records, the aecumulation of years, the value of which is not estimated in money.
For many years Mr. Harris has been identified with important business interests in Johnstown, and now he is a stoekholder in the Citizens' Light, Heat and Power Company. the Consumers' Ice Com- pany, the Johnstown Supply House, the First National Bank, Union National Bank, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the Johnstown Telephone Company and the Johnstown Street Railroad Company. He is an honorary member of First Assistance Fire Company. For thirty- seven years he has been a member of Alma Lodge, No. 523, I. O. O. F., and of William F. Paeker Encampment, No. 127, Patriarchs Militant. When the Confederate troops invaded Pennsylvania during the Civil war, he enlisted in the Emergency Militia and went out with his regi- ment against the enemy. Mr. Harris is a member of St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal church.
On the 6th day of August, 1863, John Thomas Harris married Margaret Davis, of Onllwyn. South Wales, who came to America with the Harris family in 1863. Of this marriage seven children have been born, and of the seven William, Winnie, Maggie, Sarah and Frank Harris, with their mother, were victims of the awful disaster of May,
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1889. The surviving children are Louis Harris, who married Kate Stophel and now is a widower living in Pittsburg, and David Harris, who married Goldie Seott of Dayton, Ohio, and now is with the Frank- lin Department of Cambria Steel Company.
BAILEY FAMILY. The grandfather of Samuel C. Bailey was a native of Germany and an early resident of the city of Philadelphia, where he spent the remainder of his life after he came to America. His son, John A. Bailey, was a soldier of the United States army in the war with Mexico; his grandsons, William Richard and Joshua Bailey were soldiers of the Union army in the Civil war, and his great-grand- son, Francis J. Bailey, was a soldier in the American service in the late war with Spain.
While living in Philadelphia the elder Bailey married Laura Du Bon, a French woman, and John A. Bailey was their son. He was born in Philadelphia, October 4. 1784, and while a young man left the eastern part of the state and afterward lived in Huntingdon and Blair coun- ties, in the former of which he was an early trader. During his active life he was at one time connected with the Schwab line of boats on the Pennsylvania canal and carried on an extensive business in iron and steel traffic between Philadelphia and Pittsburg. He established several mercantile houses in different parts of Huntingdon county, and was a pioneer of that work in the region. It may be said to the honor of John A. Bailey that he served with credit in the American army during the Mexican war, although the name and number of his regiment is not now remembered. nor the particular battles in which he took part. In 'his religious conviction he was a devout Catholie, and in politics was an ardent Whig. He died November 1, 1843. He married Eliza Cox who was born March 27, 1803, died August 8, 1892, a daughter of Joshua Cox, who was one of the pioneers of the region of Huntingdon and Blair counties. The children of this marriage were as follows: John P. Bailey, married Margaret O'Connor, of Pittsburg, and died at the age of thirty-three years; Richard Bailey, married Margaret Rohl, and lives in Clarion county, Pennsylvania. Mr. Bailey was a lieu- tenant in Company I, One Hundred Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in the Civil war: Eliza Bailey married William Rankin, of Pittsburg, and is now dead; Esther Bailey, married George Black- stock, of Pittsburg, and is now dead : William Y. Bailey, married Nancy Jones and is now dead. His widow lives in Pittsburg. He was order- ly sergeant in Company I. One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry in the Civil war. Sarah L., died in infancy ; Joshua Bailey, married Naney Niese and lives in Clarion county. He served in the Ninth Pennsylvania Reserves in the war of 1861-65; Samuel Cox Bailey, of Johnstown, of whom special mention is made in this sketch; Henry H .. died in infancy.
Samnel Cox Bailey was born at Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania, on the 10th day of August, 1837, and received his education in the com- mon schools. When seventeen years old he went to Pittsburg and learned the trade of plumbing and gas and steam fitting. In 1856 he came to Johnstown, and for several years was in charge of the works of the Johnstown Gas Company. Later he went to Altoona and in- stalled the gas and water works there. and he also built the gas works at Greensburg. This was just before the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1861, and in that great civil conflict Mr. Bailey was destined to take a prominent part.
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On August 12, 1862, he enlisted from Blair county and was mus- tered into service at Harrisburg on August 14, as a private in Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. On August 16, the regiment was organized at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, for nine months service, with field officers as follows: Colonel, Jacob Higgins; lieutenant-colonel, Jacob Szink; major, John J. Lawrence. Having received its arms and accoutrements the regiment moved on the evening of August 16th to Washington, D. C., where it reported to General Casey and was assigned to a provisional brigade of which Colonel Higgins was placed in command. On the 18th the regiment moved to Hunter's Chapel, and from there to Fort Bernard, Virginia, where it engaged in drill and fatigue duty on the fortifications. It took part in the battle of Brandy Station on August 20th, and on the 6th of September recrossed the Potomac to Rockville, and was assigned to the First Brigade, Second Division, Twelfth Corps, Army of the Potomac. It participated in the battle at Antietam, September 17, 1862, after which it was posted at Maryland Heights and Pleasant Valley until the 1st of November, when it again crossed the Potomac and took a stand at London Heights, they having been transferred to the Second Brigade, First Division, Twelfth Corps. It performed duty in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry until the 10th of December, when it marched to join the main army in the movement against Fred- ericksburg. The troops passed Leesburg and Fairfax Court House, and arrived at Dumfries on the 16th, in time to hear of the disaster of the engagement at Fredericksburg. From this point the command countermarched to Fairfax Court House and later took part in Burn- side's famous "mud march" to Stafford Court House, where the time was spent in drill, review, heavy guard and pieket duty. On the 24th of March, 1863, the regiment was transferred to the Second Brigade, Second Division, Twelfth Corps, proceeded to Acequia Creek Landing, and afterward participated in the bloody battle of Chancellorsville, May 1st to 4th, besides numerous skirmishes. After bearing a faith- ful part in all the operations of his regiment Mr. Bailey was honorably discharged and mustered out of service at Philadelphia on the 16th of May, 1863, his term of enlistment having then expired.
On the 2d of September, 1864, Mr. Bailey re-enlisted at Johns- town to serve for one year or during the war, and was mustered into service as private in Captain Webster B. Lowman's Company D, Fifth Pennsylvania Heavy Artillery, or the Two Hundred and Fourth Regi- ment of the Pennsylvania line. Soon after organization the regiment was ordered to Washington and assigned to duty in the forts north of the city. Afterward it was sent out to convoy construction trains engaged in opening the Manassas Gap railroad, in order to establish a line of supply for Sheridan's army, which then was operating in the Shenandoah Valley. The First Battalion under command of Major Howard Morton was suddenly attacked at Salem, Virginia, at noon on the 8th of October, by a superior force of Moshy's men, the latter con- sisting of cavalry and artillery, and was compelled to fall back to Rec- tortown, where the other battalions under Colonel Browne were sta- tioned. Here the battle was renewed and became exceedingly hot. Mosby held a strong position on a hill, from which he sent in a terrible fire from his batteries, but one battalion of Union troops with a detach- ment of sharpshooters made a detour and came up in his rear, foreing the enemy to retreat and take a new position three miles distant. On the next day the Fifth was ordered to move on with the trains to White
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Plains, but was constantly harassed by Mosby's men, who tore up the tracks and kept up a scattering fire without forcing a general engage- ment. On the day following Mosby retired with his force to the mountains, and soon afterward the battalions of the Fifth moved on to Piedmont, Virginia. A few weeks later two companies of the regi- ment, with a squadron of the Thirteenth New York Cavalry, made a forced march at night into the mountains, captured Mosby's artillery, four pieces and caissons, and several prisoners, and brought them safely into camp at daylight. In October the regiment returned to the forts north of Washington, and from there to Virginia for the winter, estab- lishing a post on Prospect Hill, one at Vienna and another at Fairfax Court House. The men were put at work building stockades and block- houses, and buried nearly two thousand of the dead who had fallen on the field at the Second Bull Run. On the 6th of October, 1864, between Rectortown and Salem, Mr. Bailey was wounded, and was treated in the field hospital by Dr. MeCann, after which he was sent to the hospital at Alexandria. At all other times during the entire period of his service he was with his regiment, sharing with the other men the suecesses and reverses of army life and taking a soldier's part in whatever was assigned for him to do. His record was a good one, and one of which both he and his children can feel a just pride. At Alexandria, Virginia, on the 9th day of June, 1865, he was honorably discharged on account of wounds received in the service. Mr. Bailey enjoyed the acquaintance and personal friendship of President Lincoln and of Governor Curtin, for the latter of whom his first vote was cast, and who was an old friend of the Bailey family.
On the 15th day of June, 1864, a few months previous to his second enlistment, Mr. Bailey married Annie E. Gleason, daughter of John and Margaret (Gorman) Gleason, of Pittsburg. John Gleason and his wife eame to America from Dublin, Ireland, and settled in the city of Pittsburg, where for many years he was a drayman. The Gleason home in Pittsburg was the resting place on their arrival of many friends from the old country, and from there they made their start in the new land. Mr. Gleason died in October, 1884. His wife died in 1868. Their children, besides Mrs. Bailey, were Alice, who married Edward Dwyer; Ella, who died unmarried; and John, who married Tillie Sehell.
The children of Samuel C. and Annie E. (Gleason) Bailey, who are now living, are as follows: Maggie Bailey, born February 4, 1866; married Judge F. J. O'Connor, president judge of the courts of Cam- bria county, and of whom special mention will be found in this work; Richard S. Bailey, born February 4, 1866 (twin of Maggie Bailey) ; married Ellia Horner, and is a plumber and business man of Johns- town : Edward W. Bailey, born July 23, 1871; married Kate Bradley, and is a plumber and business man of Johnstown; Samuel H. Bailey, born Mareh 19, 1876; married Mary Thomas, and is proprietor of the Belvidere Hotel, Johnstown; Francis J. Bailey, born July 4, 1878; married Gertrude Boyle and lives in Johnstown; James G. Bailey, born May 13, 1883, now at school at Ada, Ohio.
FRANCIS JOSEPH BAILEY of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, fifth in the order of birth of the children of Samuel C., and Annie E., (Gleason) Bailey, was born in Johnstown on the 4th day of July, 1878, and obtained his earlier education in the city public schools and Rowe's College. During his studentship at the college he was stenographer in
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the office of Judge O'Connor, his brother-in-law, and remained there several years. Soon afterward, when the college was sold, he and one other became its proprietors and conducted the institution until July, 1898. when Mr. Bailey entered the service for the war with Spain.
He enlisted at Pittsburg July 5, 1898, and rather than join any of the volunteer regiments, and being especially desirous to preserve the fighting traditions of his ancestors, he enlisted in Troop A, Fifth Regiment United States Cavalry, for the period of the war. In organiz- ing for active service the Fifth was attached to General Schwan's brigade of the Western Army of Invasion of Porto Rico, and at first was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. From that point the regiment went to New Orleans, thence to Huntsville, Alabama, thence to Tampa, Florida, arriving there on the 19th of July. On the 25th orders were given to proceed to Porto Rico, on which the troops embarked in an old side wheel coasting steamer, formerly called "The Morgan," but re- christened "Transport No. 30." The time of the voyage was from July 25 to August 4, but before reaching the destination the troops with a detachment of marines were sent ashore under cover of the guns of several battleships to capture the lighthouse at Cape San Juan, which was accomplished with little difficulty. The Fifth was soon after- ward landed and at once proceeded to Homigueros, arriving there on the 10th of August. The Spanish regiment. Alphonse XIII, was soon encountered, first in a skirmish and then in a general engagement on the hills of the vicinity. On the 15th there was a battle with Spanish cavalry and infantry on the Rio Prieto, east of Las Marias. Soon after this event hostilities ceased under peace propositions, and from that time the service of the regiment was that of pursuing native guerrillas, known as "Firebugs," who were ravaging the country, burn- ing buildings, destroying crops and plundering houses and plantations. This kind of army life did not particularly appeal to Mr. Bailey, and he therefore secured his discharge on March 25. 1899. Returning to Johns- town. he was employed at the Latrobe Steel Works as stenographer and telegraph operator for about a year, and afterward for the same period was with the Asbestine Works at Windber, in the capacity of superintendent and general manager. Later he was stenographer in the office of the Franklin plant of the Cambria Steel Company, remained there three years and then became agent for the Cambria Brewing Company.
On the 20th of October, 1902, Mr. Bailey married Gertrude K. Boyle, daughter of Patrick Boyle, of Johnstown, former president of the Cambria Brewing Company. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey have one daughter, Margaret Bailey, born September 29, 1903.
OWEN MORGAN, D. D. S., of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, who has practiced dental surgery ever since he was graduated from the Balti- more College of Dental Surgery, was born in the old Morgan family homestead in Quemahoning, on Quemahoning creek, in the locality where his ancestors have lived for many generations. Indeed, Dr. Morgan comes of one of the very oldest families of Southwestern Penn- sylvania, and at least two of his ancestors were heroes of the border wars with the Indians during the period of colonial history of Pennsyl- vania and before the last of the French and Indian wars.
One of the ancestors to whom this reference is made was David Boyd, who was the eldest son of John Boyd. The elder John Boyd (he had a son John) was of Scotch-Irish birth and ancestry, and
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emigrated from the North of Ireland to America when he was about eighteen years old. He first settled in Cumberland county in this state, where he was a pioneer in a wilderness region, and from that time for many years the surname was associated with the events of history of that part of the province. John Boyd married Nancy Urie, who was a daughter of another of the pioneers of the region mentioned, and the Uries as well as the Boyds helped to make history during the period under consideration and the frequent Indian outbreaks which characterized Pennsylvania provincial history from the early part of the eighteenth century to the close of the Revolution.
David Boyd was the eldest son of John Boyd. and was born in Cumberland county in 1743. When he was a boy, his father's family and John Stewart and his family moved into a still more remote part of Cumberland county and settled on the site of the present town of Shippensburg, which then was an unbroken and uninhabited wilderness. There the bordermen built cabins, made clearings for their crops, and prepared themselves for comfortable future lives. They of course knew that they were frontiersmen, and that the region was infested with bands of marauding savages, but these settlers felt in a measure secure in the fact that peace then existed between England and France, the powers which then were struggling for supremacy in America; and even the Indian allies of the contending nations were disposed to peace, although predatory bands still carried on their lawless work in the province. These Indians were allies of the French during the wars, and were turned loose on the frontier settlements by the French officers, and were permitted to murder and plunder and burn without restraint. John Boyd and John Stewart were regarded by the French as English subjects, and therefore enemies and legitimate prey for their savage allies when the powers were at war. This came in 1756, when France and England began the last of the series of wars and which ended in the final overthrow of French power in America. On the 10th of February in that year John Boyd, had gone to his neighbor Stewart's cabin for a web of cloth, and was on his way home through a piece of dense woods when the attack was made on his home. His absence at the time saved his life, for the savages did not discover him in the woods; and had he been at home when the attack was made his own courage and strength could not have prevailed against the superior number of Indians, and he must have been killed with others of his family. His cabin was burned, his wife and an infant child was killed, and his four other children were carried away into captivity by the murderous horde. These children were David, John, Sarah, aged seven, and Rhoda Boyd, aged 5. The Stewart cabin was also attacked and burned, and both the pioneer and his wife were slain.
Of the Boyd children taken into captivity by the Indians, David was adopted by a Delaware chief, and his younger brother John and his sisters Sarah and Rhoda were claimed by other chiefs. The girls were held among the Indians until 1764, and then were exchanged. John Boyd became reconciled to the Indian life, and ever afterward made his home with some one of the tribes. Once after many years he returned to the place where he had lived, but could not be prevailed upon to stay among the white settlers. He visited with his relatives for a short time and then went back, never again to be heard of. In 1760 David Boyd was restored to freedom by the chief who had adopted him. Subsequent- ly he married and raised a family, and his descendants are now numerous in the State. After being released at Detroit, Sarah and
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Rhoda Boyd were sent to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, by Colonel Boquet, in 1764. Rhoda afterward married Robert Smiley, who in 1780 settled on Quemahoning creek, in what is now Jenner township, in Somerset county, where still further Indian troubles were in store for the family. At that time the settlers lived far apart, and the nearest neighbor of the Smileys was eight miles away. This neighbor was afterward killed by the Indians, and Mr. Smiley and his family were twice driven from ·their home. On the first of these occasions they spent the winter at Carlisle, returning to their cabin in the spring, and on the second they found refuge for the winter on Conococheague creek, in what now is Adams county. This, however, was the last of the Indian depreda- tions in the neighborhood, and afterward the Smiley family was permitted to live in peace.
Robert Smiley and his wife Rhoda had six children-Agnes, George, Sarah, John, James and Robert Smiley. In 1791, when she was seventeen years old, Agnes Smiley married Moses Freame, who came from Hagerstown, Maryland, and was four years older than his wife. In 1792 they settled half a mile west of the Smiley clearing, and in that locality Moses Freame became the owner of twelve hundred acres of heavily timbered land lying on both sides of Quemahoning creek. In 1813 he built a saw mill, and also a cabin on the creek, and set about the work of lumbering and clearing the land for farming purposes; and several fine farms are now included within the tract which Moses Freame opened for settlement almost a hundred years ago.
Moses and Agnes Freame had twelve children, among whom was Mary Freame, fifth in the order of birth, and who was born on the 13th of October, 1801. When she was sixteen years old she married William Dalley, who was born in Somerset county, New Jersey. After marriage they settled near the saw mill, and in that year (1817) erected a small log building and put in it a carding machine and fulling mill. This cloth mill was the first establishment of its kind in the region, and was well patronized by the settlers of the surrounding country. In 1827 the log building was replaced with a more pretentious three-storied frame woolen mill, twenty by thirty feet in size, and a spinning machine and several looms were added to the machinery. In 1834 William Dalley died, leaving besides his wife, eight children. After his death his widow remained in possession of the mill and property for several years, and in 1842 she married Owen Morgan, a native of Neath, South Wales, and who purchased the property from the Dalley heirs. Here he carried on an extensive business for many years, and died in 1871, at the age of sixty-two years. His widow survived him and died in 1880, aged seventy-nine years. Additions were made to the mill in 1858, 1867 and 1879. On the 17th of May, 1882, the building was burned, but by the 1st of November following a new mill had been erected and equipped and was again in operation, then, however, under the proprietorship of Hon. William S. Morgan, son of Owen Morgan.
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